Eclectic commentary from a progressive voice in the reddest part of the red state

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Texas’ execrable, repulsive and deplorable attorney general

Americans who face potentially devastating medical problems
have found succor in the Affordable Care Act and, with today’s United States Supreme
Court decision,
will continue to do so. The 6-3 ruling affirmed the constitutionality of the
law, also known as Obamacare, with the three most ignorant, corporatist shills
on the bench dissenting.

The right wing’s ideological knee-jerk sure to follow has
already begun with Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general currentlyunder investigation for securities fraud, quick with a pressrelease — as he usually is — to condemn the federal government for “overreach,”
clearly forgetting his oath to uphold the constitutions of the United States and
Texas. This poor excuse for a law enforcement officer squanders taxpayer money
to rail against those acts of government that don’t capitulate to his corporatist
overlords. Like almost all politicians of the right wing, he fails to understand
basic health care economics, the multiplier effect of funding health care and
ignores the national interest in having a healthy society.

Further, the content of the press release is populated with
right wing lies, perpetuated on right wing “news” sources and blogs since
February 2014 when the Congressional Budget Office released a report on the
ACA. Economist Paul Krugman pointed
out what the CBO report really stated; so did Newsweek,
among other emphasizing that the ACA didn’t cost American jobs.

Whatever our political persuasions, Texans have the highest
regard for honesty, revering such symbols of integrity as sealing a deal with
nothing more than a handshake. With Paxton, we have a traitor to this state’s righteous
history. Texas deserves better.